(1) Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a door-stopping device for motor vehicles comprising a door holder bar, a support housing with a passage for the door holder bar to pass through and a locking unit provided in the support housing, comprising two pivotally mounted locking levers, each pre-tensioned by a spring element towards each other and towards the door holder bar, each locking lever comprising a locking element, the locking elements bearing on mutually opposite sides against the door holder bar and being adapted to engage with the locking grooves on the door holder bar.
(2) Prior Art
A door-stopping device is known from DE 201 20 271 U1, wherein a door holder bar, provided with locking grooves, is arranged pivotally on a vehicle body on the one hand, and in a displaceable manner in the support housing fitted to the vehicle door on the other hand. When the vehicle door is pivoted, a lateral face of the door holder bar provided with the locking grooves, slides from a rigid locking cam of the locking unit and, as a result, locks the vehicle door in predetermined opening positions. Opposite to the locking grooves, on the essentially plane side of the door holder bar, the latter is pressed towards the locking element by a spring-loaded cam.
This door-stopping device has the drawback that its function absolutely requires that the locking grooves must be oriented parallel to the pivoting axis of the door holder bar associated with the vehicle body, since a pivoting ability of the door holder bar is the prerequisite for the operation of the locking unit. This results in considerable structural limitations in the design of the stopping device as well as the associated components, i.e. the vehicle door and the fixing regions of the door holder bar on the vehicle body.
A door-stopping device of the type as set out in the opening paragraph is furthermore known from DE 297 17 283 U1. The locking levers are pre-tensioned by spring elements, whose ends opposite to the locking levers are supported inside the housing. In order to ensure the required support and in order to prevent deformations as a result of the supporting forces, the door-stopping device must be designed accordingly in the supporting region. This, however, entails considerable structural limitations as well as disadvantages with regard to weight.